CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Founded by THEODORE THOMAS in 1891 FREDERICK STOCK Conductor THE THURSDAY-FRIDAY SERIES Concerts Nos. 2553 and 2554 IIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIII FORTY-NINTH SEASON TWENTY-SEVENTH PROGRAM APRIL 11 AND 12, 1940 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinn ORCHESTRA HALL Air-Conditioned for Winter and Summer Comfort CHICAGO Slljr ©rrbi’strd Assonatimi 1939 — FORTY-NINTH SEASON—1940 ORGANIZATION The Orchestral Association consists of forty members, from whom fifteen are elected as Trustees. The officers of the Association are elected from the Trustees, and these Officers, with three other Trustees and the Honorary Trustees, compose the Executive Committee. OFFICERS CHARLES H. HAMILL, Honorary President EDWARD L. RYERSON, Jr., President ALBERT A. SPRAGUE, Vice-President CHARLES H. SWIFT, Second Vice-President ARTHUR G. CABLE, Third Vice-President CHALKLEY J. HAMBLETON, Secretary FRANCIS M. KNIGHT, Treasurer HONORARY TRUSTEES and Ex-Officio Members of Executive Committee Joseph Adams Charles H. Hamill Russell Tyson OTHER MEMBERS OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Charles B. Goodspeed Ralph H. Norton John P. Welling OTHER TRUSTEES Cyrus H. Adams Alfred T. Carton Harold F. McCormick Daniel H. Burnham Arthur B. Hall J. Sanford Otis OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION Richard Bentley William B. Hale Theodore W. Robinson Bruce Borland George Roberts Jones Charles Ward Seabury John Alden Carpenter Frank O. Lowden Emanuel F. Selz Mrs. Clyde M. Carr Chauncey McCormick Durand Smith William B. Cudahy Leeds Mitchell Robert J. Thorne Edison Dick Charles H. Morse Mrs. Frederic W. Upham Albert D. Farwell Mrs.BartholomayOsborneErnest B. Zeisler Walter P. Paepcke OFFICES: SIXTH FLOOR, ORCHESTRA BUILDING 220 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago HENRI E. VOEGELI, Assistant Treasurer and Business Manager CHARLES F. BOSTETTER, Assistant Secretary FORM FOR GIFTS FORM FOR BEQUESTS I enclose herewith the sum of I give and bequeath to The ................................................ Dollars Orchestral Association, Chicago, to be added to the Endowment Illinois, the sum of.............. Fund of The Orchestral Association. CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FREDERICK STOCK.................... Conductor HANS LANGE..................... Associate Conductor The Thursday-Friday Concerts TWENTY-SEVENTH PROGRAM April 11, at 8 :15 — April 12, at 2:15 1940 Soloist: ARTUR RUBINSTEIN PRELVDE AND MARCH, from “Scenes from Long­ fellow’s Golden Legend”...................................................... BUCK SCHERZO, from Music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Opus 61.. .MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY SYMPHONY No-. 4, A Minor, Opus 63.............................SIBELIUS Tempo molto moderato, quasi adagio. Allegro molto vivace. Il tempo largo. Allegro. INTERMISSION CONCERTO FOR PIANOFORTE, No. 1, B Flat Minor, Opus 23..................TSCHAIKOWSKY Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso— Allegro con spirito. Andantino semplice. Allegro con fuoco. The Piano Is a Steinway Patrons are not admitted during the playing of a composition for the obvious reason that their entrance would disturb their neighbors. For this same reason considerate persons will not leave during the playing. The performance of the last movement of the final composition on this program will require about fifteen minutes. COLUMBIA RECORDS EXTRACT FROM HOUSE RULES: ENCORES NOT PERMITTED Advance Program on Page 30 PROGRAM NOTES By FELIX BOROWSKI Prelude and March, from Dudley Buck. “Scenes from Longfellow’s Born Mar. 10, 1839, at Hartford, Conn. Golden Legend.” Died Oct. 6, 1909, at Orange, N. J. Dudley Buck was the son of a shipping merchant at Hartford, Conn. His mother was the daughter of Judge Adams, of Portsmouth, N. H., a prominent lawyer in whose office Daniel Webster had begun his law studies. Neither of Dudley Buck’s parents were musical, and it was the desire of his father that the young man should take up the commercial career which he himself had pursued. It followed, therefore, that the talent for music made evident by the boy was not considered any­ thing more important than a means of harmless amuse­ ment. Dudley’s first music study, by that token, was made by himself from such material as he could find. Somewhat later the elder Buck, perceiving that his son was more likely to win success by taking up the career of art than by being forced into business which was repugnant to him, permitted him to take lessons in musi­ cal theory and organ-playing. In 1858 Buck, now nineteen years of age, had made such excellent progress that it was determined to send him to Germany in order to round off his musical train­ ing. At that time the Conservatory of Leipzig, which had been founded by Mendelssohn in 1843, was the principal school of music in Europe, and to that institution Buck was admitted as a student in musical theory and compo­ sition of Moritz Hauptmann and Ernst Er. Richter, of Julius Rietz in orchestration and of Louis Plaidy and Ignaz Moscheles in piano-playing. Buck stayed'eigh- teen months at Leipzig, and as organ-playing was par­ ticularly appealing to him, he went to Dresden in order to become a pupil of Johann Schneider, one of the most famous organists then living, who had been the teacher of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Nicolai and Liszt. 5 PROGRAM NOTES—Continued Having spent three years in Germany, Dudley Buck betook himself to Paris, where he tarried for another year. On his return to the United States in 1862 he officiated for some time as organist in the Park Church, Hartford, his native city. After the death of his parents Buck moved to Chicago and for three years was organ­ ist of St. James’ Church. The Great Fire of 1871 swept away Buck’s house, and in that holocaust he lost most of his manuscript compositions—a concerto for piano, a concert overture, a trio for piano and strings, etc. Dis­ couraged, Buck departed again for the East. For a time he became organist at St. Paul’s Church, Boston, but his growing reputation as a composer and organist had drawn to Dudley Buck the attention of Theodore Thomas, and that conductor advised him to settle in New York. There, in 1875, Thomas made him his assist­ ant conductor at the concerts that were being given under Thomas’ baton at Central Park Garden. In 1877 Buck was appointed director of the Apollo Club, New York, and organist of Holy Trinity Church, Brooklyn, which latter post he held until his retirement in 1903. As a composer Buck was finding ready recogni­ tion as one of the coming men. In 1876 he was invited to write “The Centennial Meditation of Columbus” for the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, a commis- sion which had come to him at the behest of Theodore Thomas, who also had been instrumental in awarding to Richard Wagner the commission to compose his Grand Festival *March. Nor was Buck’s reputation as a composer confined to his native country. His choral work, “The Light of Asia,” was performed with great success at London in 1885 and numerous works for organ, etc. were popular in England. Buck’s works in the larger forms include the choral compositions: “Chorus of Spirits and Hours,” for male voices; “King Olaf’s Christmas,” for male voices; “The Nun of Nidarus,” for male voices; “The Voyage of * This -work was produced May 10, 1876, at the opening of the centennial commemoration of the declaration of independence of the United States. Theo­ dore Thomas was the conductor. The manuscript of the March is now in the Newberry Library, Chicago, to which it was presented by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas. 7 PROGRAM NOTES—Continued Columbus,” for male voices; “Paul Revere’s Ride,” for male voices; “Centennial Meditation of Columbus,” for mixed chorus; “Legend of Don Munio,” for mixed chorus; “The Golden Legend,” for mixed chorus; “Eas­ ter Morning,” for mixed chorus; “The Light of Asia,” for mixed chorus; The Forty-sixth Psalm, for mixed chorus; “The Christmas Year,” a series of five cantatas, for mixed chorus. For orchestra Buck wrote an over­ ture, “Marmion.” There came from his pen, too, a comic opera, “Deseret,” and anthems, offertories and other church music as well as works for organ. He did not confine his activities only to composition. Buck was the author of the following books: Illustrations in Choir Accompaniment, The Influence of the Organ in History and a Dictionary of Musical Forms. Dudley Buck’s work for solo voices, chorus and or­ chestra, “Scenes from Longfellow’s Golden Legend,” was the outcome of a prize competition for a choral work instituted in 1879 by the Cincinnati Musical Festival. The prize was $1,000.00. Twenty scores were submitted by American composers, and one of them—George E. Whiting—selected the same subject as that which had been taken by Buck. The latter was the successful com­ petitor, and his work was produced, under the direction of Theodore Thomas, at a concert of the festival, Cin­ cinnati, May 20,1880. The soloists were Anna B. Norton, J. F. Rudolphsen, Fred Harvey and Myron W. Whit­ ney. In addition to the new work by Buck, the program comprised Berlioz’ overture, “King Lear,” and the third act of Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung.” The Chicago Tribune sent a special correspondent to Cincinnati to report on the festival, and that reviewer wrote in part concerning Buck’s new work: “Mr. Buck’s tendency toward Wagnerism in his musical thought is no secret to those who have watched his progress, and in this work he displays it by his skillful use of the Leitmotiven and by his close linking of the poetical and musical ideas by which he secures the emotional expression, but without any sacrifice of the melodious ele­ ment. Again in the episodes, when he uses the orchestra as a factor in narration of the story, one may clearly trace the influence of Liszt and Berlioz. 9 Read the RECORD NEWS each month and be well informed on the latest record releases from home and abroad.